SPLENIC OR PEEIODIC FEVER OF CATTLE. 



99 



attack ; but, as deatli approaches, and bloody urine flows, it is very per- 

 ceptibly reduced. 

 The annexed table indicates the ascertained temperature of sixty cases : 



To the touch, the temperature of the body varies much. It is not at 

 all unusual to have great heat of the poll, of the ears, and horns, and 

 of the extremities. At other times the limbs, and especially the hind 

 ones, are cold; and the general surface of the body, which is hot in the 

 earlier stages of the disease, has a tendency to cool as death approaches. 

 The breathing is accelerated, and sometimes labored. In some animals, 

 with great restlessness and tendency to delirium, I have found the 

 respirations as high as one hundred per minute; whereas, in comatose 

 animals, they have been slow, deep, and stertorous. On an average* 

 however, the movements of the flanks have indicated simply increased 

 frequency, aud have amounted to sixty per minute. 



The nervous phenomena are often very marked. In some the mus- 

 cles of the flanks and thighs are seen to be constantly trembling. In 

 others there is decided and continuous twitching of the cervical mus- 

 cles. In nearly all, when an attempt is made to walk, there is evidence 

 of feebleness in the hind limbs, which are rolled from side to side, as 

 the animal staggers along. When lying, and wanting to rise, it is fonnd 

 that several efforts have to be made before the hind quarters can be 

 fairly raised from the ground; and then, in attempting to extend the 

 fore limbs, great difficulty is experienced, and the animal often sinks to 

 the ground. In one case, which I saw near Tolono, the animal seemed 

 fixed to the soil, from inability to direct its muscles. With assistance 

 it was got up, but its fore legs were propped out; and, when driven 

 along, the action of its limbs was quite irregular, and the animal faltered 

 along, to drop again almost immediately. This inability to control the 

 voluntary muscles, this defective co-ordination of movement, prevails in 

 a less degree in a considerable tuimher of cases. Great listlessness and 

 even stupor are very common indications of early death. Tlie most 

 singular numifestatious of these conditions occurred in two cows. One 



